WHIRLWIND WOMAN

In primordial time, according to the Arapaho origin myth, when the animals still did not exist, the earth was thoroughly covered with water, with the exception of a hill, on which a man was sitting. Other versions report that a man sat on a pipe which floated on the waters, or that this man was at the same time a person and the Sacred Pipe. This man asked the help of some water birds, which are in other versions sent by the Creator, inviting them to dive deep in the waters and to try to reach the bottom and bring up a little bunch of earth. After several unsuccessful attempts, a duck (or in other versions a turtle) is able to bring up a piece of mud between its paws. The earth is then scattered toward the four cardinal directions and takes the place of the primordial water. The latter is pushed back to the extreme limits of the world, forming a ring surrounding the emerged earth. Some tales attribute the movement of expansion of the earth and expulsion of the waters to Whirlwind Woman (neyoooxetusei) (Anderson 2000; 2001). The visible parts of the earth were then shaped: the rivers, the valleys and the woodlands. The primordial being (performing the functions of a Demiurge) created the first humans, originated the difference of genders, and created the various species of animals: of the earth, of the sky and of the water. At last, the primordial being gave to the Arapaho the Sacred Pipe, taught them the use of instruments and weapons, the making of fire and the utilization of language: in short the arts of culture.

	Porcupine quills decorated bag, with a motif representing the whirling movement, around a center, characteristic of Whirlwind Woman (Brooklyn Museum, New York)

 

For the Arapaho, the movement the movement from centre outward corresponds to the “life movement”. The expansion of the earth from the original bunch of mud, operated by Whirlwind Woman, is homologous to that of the rays of the sun, radiating heat and energy in the cosmos from a central point, or to that of the heat from the fireplace, at the centre of the house, radiating outward. The vital energy expands and radiates always starting from a centre.

 

	Tipi circular ornament, realized with porcupine quills, representing the movement of Whirlwind Woman (National Museum of American Indian, Washington, D.C.)

 

 

		Several motives appearing in the Arapaho decorations with porcupine quills are associated with Whirlwind Woman, a disorderly and unforeseeable power, which could be directed to promote life force and fertility. Lévi-Strauss has sustained that the art of quillwork decoration was the most sophisticated expression of the material culture of the Plains Indians and the best quality that could be attributed to a woman, who could demonstrate in this way her perfect education (Lévi-Strauss 1968: p. 204-205). Jeffrey Anderson confirms this interpretation, maintaining that among the Arapaho the quillwork art was the highest embodiment of culture and of artistic production (Anderson 2000: p.19).     Arapaho woman portrayed in 1898 by Frank A. Rinehart.